Study the association of interleukins-8 and 39 with some biochemical variables in prostate cancer patients

Prostate cancer (PC) is a disease that primarily affects older men, and nearly one in eight men will develop it during their lifetime. The most common form occurs after the age of 50. We assessed whether interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interleukin-39 (IL-39) are associated with selected biochemical parameters in Iraqi patients with PC. This investigation included 42 patients with PC from the oncology center in Ramadi and 42 healthy controls (HCs). Serum levels of IL-8, IL-39, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Urea, creatinine, total bilirubin (TBIL), total calcium (TCa), and zinc (Zn) were determined using enzymatic colorimetric methods. PC patients had significantly higher serum IL-8 and IL-39 levels than HCs (p < 0.0001). IL-39 showed a significant correlation with IL-8, hemoglobin (Hb), PSA, and urea, while IL-8 and IL-39 showed no significant association with the other measured parameters. The analyzed parameters showed the following descending order for the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve; PSA (1.0), hemoglobin (Hb) (0.9802), urea (0.9572), TCa (0.7577), IL-39 (0.7321), TBIL (0.7271), IL-8 (0.6706), creatinine (0.6670), red blood cells (RBCs) (0.6440), and white blood cells (WBCs) (0.6301). Serum IL-8 and IL-39 levels were significantly correlated with each other. IL-8 showed a weak and non-significant correlation with the other measured parameters, whereas IL-39 showed a significant association only with PSA and Hb.